There are many variables when it comes to moving your domain name and email, and this guide will walk you through the various intricacies and nuances involved.
“I originally purchased my domain name through a hosting service like Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace.”
If you purchased a domain through a hosting service, it they likely own your domain name, or registered it on your behalf. If you’re planning on leaving a service like this, you have three options:
1) Continue registering your domain name through the service, but point it to FolioHD who will host your site.
Pros:
- You can point the domain name to FolioHD instantly, and your FolioHD site will work with your domain name within 48 hours (usually much quicker).
Cons:
- You are still paying the company you registered the domain through, for your domain on an annual basis.
- Some services aren’t able to configure domain names in the way that FolioHD prefers, so getting your domain configured correctly might require an email or two to their customer service.
- If there is ever an issue with your site, there are multiple points of contact.
- Sometimes this requires some back and forth with the old service provider, which can cause some delays in getting things configured.
2) Transfer the management of your domain name to FolioHD.
Pros:
- You have a single point of contact in case anything goes wrong with your site. (Plus, people are pretty happy with our support.)
- We’ll handle all the technical setup to get your domain (and email) working.
Cons:
- Transferring a domain name can up to 10 days.
Note: Transferring your domain name incurs a domain renewal fee, which also extends your registration for 1 year. (This is a mandatory domain registration fee, not a special fee we impose. We’d transfer it for free if we could!)
3) The ideal case for many people is to combine both of the above processes (options 1 and 2).
First, we can work with your old registration company to configure your domain name to work with FolioHD. After your site is successfully pointed to FolioHD, we can begin the process of transferring management to us. Using this scenario, your domain will get up and running quickly, and we have the ability to manage your domain as necessary, going forward.
“I purchased my domain name through a domain registrar.”
If you bought a domain through a registrar like Godaddy, Network Solutions, NameCheap, Name.com, etc., you likely own your domain name directly. You can login to the registrar’s website and configure your site to work with FolioHD. (We have setup instructions for many of the top registrars here.)
We are happy to help get you configured by either logging into your registrar on your behalf, or by relaying how to configure it based on screenshots of your registrar that you provide to us.
“I need to set up email.”
There are two types of email configurations that FolioHD works with:
Email forwarding or email aliases
Email forwarding is a cost-effective (free) way of having a professional-looking email address that you can use on business cards and in marketing materials. However, it is not a fully-fledged email address. Instead, the way it works is like a snail mail forwarding address. When customers send email to you@yourdomain.com, we receive it and forward it along to your existing email address. You can then reply from your existing email.
Pros:
- There is no additional fee to have a forwarding email address. (This comes included with the FolioHD premium plans.)
- There is no additional email address to check.
Cons:
- With many email clients, you will not be able to respond using your forwarding address. Example: People send mail to you@yourdomain.com but when you reply, it shows your old/existing email address. (Some email clients can be configured so your address doesn’t appear. Contact us and we can look into your specific case.)
Real email addresses
Real email addresses are exactly what they sound like. FolioHD does not provide email hosting services ourselves. We recommend using Google Suite, formerly Google Apps (in fact, we use it, ourselves!). Email through Google costs $5/mo per address and you pay Google directly. We can configure your domain name to work with their email service.
Pros:
- A real email address!
- Great, Google spam filtering technology
Cons:
- Another email address to check
- An additional fee
FAQ
Who owns my domain name?
Your domain name is managed at a registrar. When you purchased your domain, whether through a hosting company or with a site that specifically registers domain names, they tell the international registry that you have claimed the domain name. (Purchasing a .com domain name can cost $15 or so, and this fee is due annually in order to maintain your domain name.) Anywhere that registers your domain will have to collect this fee on an annual basis or your domain name will be released and available for purchase by anyone else.
Note: If you fail to renew your domain name before its renewal date, it is likely to be picked up by a domain name broker. These brokers often times mark up the price of your domain name if you want to purchase it back from them.
My domain is registered through another X months with another provider. Do I still have to pay for another year?
Yes, if you are transferring your domain name to our management, it will require renewing the domain for an additional year. The process of moving domains between registrars requires this step. Fortunately, this isn’t a special fee, so the cost of renewing it simply goes to pushing out your existing renewal date by one year. We charge the standard $15 domain name renewal fee when we perform the transfer, but then your next domain name renewal won’t incur until the domain name is actually set to renew, which will be further out than one year (depending on your actual registration date).
Why do I have to pay for a domain name in the first place?
This answer best sums up the process of “purchasing” a domain name:
You don’t actually buy the domain name, you rent it from your registrar. The price you pay them is for the service of routing the domain name to an actual server. Without that service a domain name would lead nowhere, they have to point visitors to the right server. They need servers to do that, which you pay for.
The fee when registering a domain name goes to actually route the domain name properly. Since there are hard costs associated with registering a domain name, domains registered through FolioHD are non-refundable as we are not able to get refunds for domain names purchased through us.
Questions?
Ask us anything and we'll do our best to answer here. (Be sure not to include any private information like passwords or credit cards.)
